Pharmacist Arrested for Trying to Make MDMA Was Actually More Interested in Producing Toxic Weapons

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Last year, pharmacist Jordan Gonzalez, who splits his time between Manhattan and Jersey City, was arrested after federal authorities noticed that he had purchased supplies for making MDMA online. However, a raid of Gonzalez’s two apartments, as well as a New Jersey storage space, suggested that he intended to manufacture some less fun things, as well. According to the Associated Press, “Court papers show the searches turned up thousands of seeds containing ricin and abrin, materials to extract and administer those toxins, and explosive precursor chemicals, including materials for making RDX, an explosive compound used in military and commercial demolitionapplications.”

And that’s not all: “Federal agents also found approximately 1,000 rounds of ammunition, handguns, components for assault rifles and submachine guns, high capacity magazines, a bulletproof vest and a crossbow pistol.” They also found the sort of flask one could use to develop molly, but that discovery ended up taking a backseat to the otherstuff.

On Thursday, the 34-year-old appeared in New Jersey federal court to plead guilty to plotting to make toxic weapons (a charge that could land him in jail for life), as well as possessing equipment for producing illegal narcotics (he faces only four years in prison for that one). Outside the courtroom, his lawyer, Steven Ross, assured reporters that “there was no plot” to use the ricin, explosives, guns, or anything else. Indeed, while Gonzalez admitted to the charges against him, he explained that he had only intended to use his homemade weapons “in confrontations with other people in the future.” (Investigator’s also found “survivalist-themed manuals” among Gonzalez’s possessions.) It wasn’t clear whether he also intended to wait until then to use the recreationaldrugs.